和道流空手道 wadōryū karatedō Wadoryu Karate-Do

和道 wadō is the way of harmony, the name Ōtsuka Hironori 大塚博紀 gave his school; he said 和 is yawara, a word the dictionaries give as a common name for jūjutsu. A jūjutsu man, he called on Funakoshi Gichin in 1922 and learned karate from him. In 1956 he said the name began on the application for a rank, where he wrote 和道流 in haste, in connection with a Butokukai founders' festival he placed around 1939 or 1940. The federation that carries the school's name counts the style from 1934; other accounts date the name, or the teaching behind it, anywhere from 1929 to about 1940. 流 ryū is a school, 空手道 karatedō the way of the empty hand. With Gōjū-ryū, Shitō-ryū and Shōtōkan it is counted among the four great styles of karate.

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